Pure24
Warlord
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2019
- Messages
- 191
Probably the topic talked about most. This issue has been discussed to death... I'm not going complain about the AI*. This is simply a post to present some of the things you'd like a possible AI Patch to have. Imagine Firaxis published a whole megapatch just addressing AI issues, what would you like to see? If it has already been done, apologies:
I'll start...
1. Difficulty scaling. Yes, the early game is really all you have to worry about on Deity. I'd rather Deity games always have a nail-biting finish. The difficulty scaling is already harsh for newcomers, but once you get the hang of it, that's it. And that's my point. Why not have even seasoned Deity gamers be challenged often? Make it an actual achievement to win on Deity.
At the very least: include a Hardcore Mode. When checked, you can only save on one slot (Autosaves are disabled. Bye bye reloading). And because civ players are so crafty, you can even make this save is 'ongoing'... meaning it saves the game per move you make, not at the end of every turn! That way, you cannot experiment to see if you plan will work and then reload before you end your turn. Every move counts!
2. Make every difficulty level have a bonus that makes it unique. For instance, Emperor AI can be set to never get a Dark Age AND -50% score cost in every era. That almost guarantees that you're going against AI in Golden Ages, BUT it means you never have to worry about any civ in a Heroic Age. Picking Emperor would mean a completely different experience from any other difficulty level. Give each difficulty its own difficulty quirk. It just makes things more... unique.
At the very least: increase optional settings for the AI when creating a new game. Let everything be checked/unchecked as per standard, but you can alter it to your liking. This would make things interesting as you can tailor your game to have so many varied experiences (e.g. you can set AI to only go for military, which means units and massive invasions)
3. Victory Conditions. The AI just can't win Religion or Culture on its own. That needs to be addressed. If an AI civ decides culture is its thing, then let it build those wonders, slot those cards, get those great people, make national parks, seaside resorts and so on. It does do this, but it seems a little... random. I'd like to have an AI-only battle where the AI could actually win Culture before the turn limit.
At the very least: an AI-Only setting! The easiest thing to implement in my entire list
4. Don't make the AI have an easier game, make the player work for it. This is actually what prompted me to make this post. As difficulty increases, don't give the AI any bonuses, change the game a little (if anything, keep the AI at Prince and make it MORE difficult for the player. For instance, at -1 amenities on higher difficulties you should already be facing danger of rebels spawning PER TURN. Say maybe 5% chance. It grows to 40% chance at -2 and -75% at -3. At -4, the chance is 95%. Unit maintenance is doubled. -1 per era score above 1, and -25% to all yields (and -50% to plot removals and pillaging; happiness and Magus basically take you to 0!). All spies and rock bands work at -1 level.
At the very least: increase the late-game bonuses AI gets. If you're going to START the AI at that level, then it only makes sense that the AI should get a little bit more push later on too (so AI spies get +1 level, or they can make national parks on Charming(2) appeal, and so on...)
5. AI Behaviour. Probably the most important. AI MUST behave differently on higher difficulties. As it is, Deity is essentially Settler AI with production boosts. You could make AI on Deity go hard on its preferred VC from the moment it locks it in. Going absolutely hard for it, stopping only when it notices another civ - with emphasis on the human player's civ - has reached the 'home stretch' (has racked up enough tourists to overpower the lowest-ranked culture civ, launched spacecraft, 10/20 diplo victory points, half the Capitals captured, and half the Civs converted), which then makes it switch to only two targets: (1). Stop him! (2). Double down on pursuing the victory!
At the very least: Deity AI shouldn't be falling for the "oh, those guys gathered all around your borders? Uh... they're just passing through" gambit. They really shouldn't be THAT gullible. Oh, and please, just... just upgrade those men you have lying around.
*Firaxis, you're doing a stellar job. The AI is actually quite great. This isn't a complaint, just taking note of areas of potential improvement
I'll start...
1. Difficulty scaling. Yes, the early game is really all you have to worry about on Deity. I'd rather Deity games always have a nail-biting finish. The difficulty scaling is already harsh for newcomers, but once you get the hang of it, that's it. And that's my point. Why not have even seasoned Deity gamers be challenged often? Make it an actual achievement to win on Deity.
At the very least: include a Hardcore Mode. When checked, you can only save on one slot (Autosaves are disabled. Bye bye reloading). And because civ players are so crafty, you can even make this save is 'ongoing'... meaning it saves the game per move you make, not at the end of every turn! That way, you cannot experiment to see if you plan will work and then reload before you end your turn. Every move counts!
2. Make every difficulty level have a bonus that makes it unique. For instance, Emperor AI can be set to never get a Dark Age AND -50% score cost in every era. That almost guarantees that you're going against AI in Golden Ages, BUT it means you never have to worry about any civ in a Heroic Age. Picking Emperor would mean a completely different experience from any other difficulty level. Give each difficulty its own difficulty quirk. It just makes things more... unique.
At the very least: increase optional settings for the AI when creating a new game. Let everything be checked/unchecked as per standard, but you can alter it to your liking. This would make things interesting as you can tailor your game to have so many varied experiences (e.g. you can set AI to only go for military, which means units and massive invasions)
3. Victory Conditions. The AI just can't win Religion or Culture on its own. That needs to be addressed. If an AI civ decides culture is its thing, then let it build those wonders, slot those cards, get those great people, make national parks, seaside resorts and so on. It does do this, but it seems a little... random. I'd like to have an AI-only battle where the AI could actually win Culture before the turn limit.
At the very least: an AI-Only setting! The easiest thing to implement in my entire list
4. Don't make the AI have an easier game, make the player work for it. This is actually what prompted me to make this post. As difficulty increases, don't give the AI any bonuses, change the game a little (if anything, keep the AI at Prince and make it MORE difficult for the player. For instance, at -1 amenities on higher difficulties you should already be facing danger of rebels spawning PER TURN. Say maybe 5% chance. It grows to 40% chance at -2 and -75% at -3. At -4, the chance is 95%. Unit maintenance is doubled. -1 per era score above 1, and -25% to all yields (and -50% to plot removals and pillaging; happiness and Magus basically take you to 0!). All spies and rock bands work at -1 level.
At the very least: increase the late-game bonuses AI gets. If you're going to START the AI at that level, then it only makes sense that the AI should get a little bit more push later on too (so AI spies get +1 level, or they can make national parks on Charming(2) appeal, and so on...)
5. AI Behaviour. Probably the most important. AI MUST behave differently on higher difficulties. As it is, Deity is essentially Settler AI with production boosts. You could make AI on Deity go hard on its preferred VC from the moment it locks it in. Going absolutely hard for it, stopping only when it notices another civ - with emphasis on the human player's civ - has reached the 'home stretch' (has racked up enough tourists to overpower the lowest-ranked culture civ, launched spacecraft, 10/20 diplo victory points, half the Capitals captured, and half the Civs converted), which then makes it switch to only two targets: (1). Stop him! (2). Double down on pursuing the victory!
At the very least: Deity AI shouldn't be falling for the "oh, those guys gathered all around your borders? Uh... they're just passing through" gambit. They really shouldn't be THAT gullible. Oh, and please, just... just upgrade those men you have lying around.
*Firaxis, you're doing a stellar job. The AI is actually quite great. This isn't a complaint, just taking note of areas of potential improvement
. But like I said, I don't really care. I could even play it IF Firaxis adds a message saying "You can change policies for free. Are you sure you want to end your turn?" every time you press the end turn button without changing policies. I mean, how hard can that be? Kind of dumb not to be in the game in the first place tbf.
